Kerala High Court initiates suo motu case after clashes reported during hartal over Nithin Raj death

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday ordered the registration of a suo motu case over reported instances of clashes during the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by Dalit organisations protesting the delay in arresting the accused in the Nithin Raj death case.

First-year BDS student Nithin Raj is believed to have died by suicide after facing caste-based harassment from the faculty at Kannur Dental College. Raj was found critically injured after allegedly jumping from a building near the college on April 10. He succumbed to his injuries later the same day.

Dalit organisations and the Nithin Raj Action Council called for a hartal demanding a murder investigation, arrest of the accused faculty members, ₹10 crore compensation to Raj's family, and cancellation of the college's accreditation.

Intense protests erupted across Kerala on during the Statewide strike on Tuesday.

Reports of heated confrontations between protestors, blocked passengers, and the police prompted a Vacation Bench of Justices Basant Balaji and P Krishna Kumar to order that the registration of the suo motu case.

Counsel for the State submitted that as of 3 PM, 27 cases had been registered across the State and 91 persons had been arrested in connection with the hartal.

The Bench directed the counsel to file it as a statement in the suo motu case and posted the matter for further consideration on Friday, May 1.

Following Raj's death, Kerala police registered a case against the head of the dental anatomy department at the Kannur Dental College, Dr MK Ram and an associate professor, KT Sangeetha Nambiar.

The case cites the offences under Section 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 3(1)(r) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act).

Amid massive public outrage, protests and calls for action, the two teachers moved the Thalassery Sessions Court seeking anticipatory bail.

On April 25, Thalassery Additional Sessions Judge-IV J Vimal denied anticipatory bail to Dr Ram but granted it to Dr Nambiar.